HUS
587
HUS
they sent a message to the king that they, one and
all, were ready to die for the chalice. In Prague it-
self matters had gone even further. Ziska of Troz-
now, like Nicolaus of Husinec. a former favourite of
the king, had taken the lead of the malcontents and
familiarized them with the thought of armed resist-
ance.
Ziska belonged to the inferior nobility of southern Bohemia; he had distinguished himself both as an undaunted fighter and as an excellent leader of men. Johann, formerly a Premonstratensian monk of Selau, now a zealot for Utraquism, on 30 July, 1419, carried the Blessed Sacrament in procession tlirough the streets of Prague (Neustadt) ; the processionists, excited by a fiery sermon of their leader, first pene- trated into St. Stephen's church which had been closed to them; then they assemljled in front of the town hall, where Johann, still holding up the Blessed Sacrament, demanded from the magi-strates the re- lease of several Utraquists imprisoned for previous disturbances. The magistrates refused and prepared for resistance. Ziska ordered the storming of the town hall: all persons found therein were thrown out of the windows on to the spears and swords of the proce-ssionists, and hacked to pieces, whilst Johann called on God in His Sacrament to inflame their murderous fury. The mob there and then elected four captains, called all men to arms and fortified the Neustadt. King Wenoeslaus swore death to all the rebels, but a stroke of apoplexy, caused by excite- ment, carried him off, 16 August, 1419. The next months were marked by deeds of violence against the faithful clergy, by wanton destruction of church fur- niture, and by the burning of monastic houses. Many citizens, especially Germans and the higher clergy, .sought safety in flight.
Wenceslaus's successor on the Bohemian throne waa his brother Sigismund, German Emperor and King of Hungary. He had been the very soul of the Council of Constance; but the Bohemians, holding him re- sponsible for the death of their beloved Hus, disliked and distrusted him. Nor was Sigismund eager to assume the ruling of this troubled kingdom. He tarrietl in Himgary, leaving Bohemia to be governed by the queen-widow and Vincenz von Wartenberg, the chief of the Utraquist league. The popular masses, led by the lesser nobility and fanatical priests, now began to multiply their meetings on " holy" moun- tains — Tabors — and to move towards Prague in armed bands. The queen regent, with the assent of the higher nobility, forbade them to meet or even to come near to Prague. In various encoimters Ziska and Nicolaus of Husinec successfully resisted the royal troops (4-9 Nov., 1419); an armistice was, however, concluded and Ziska withdrew to Pilsen. Sigismund now gave up his plans of a campaign against the Turks and resolved to restore his new kingdom to Roman unity. On his side were the Catholic nobles, the higher clergy, the Germans settled in the land, and all who had suffered persecution and losses at the hands of the sectarians; against him stood Ziska and Nico- laus of Husinec at the head of the peasantry. Sigis- mund took up the government in December, then went to Silesia to collect more troops. The Cath- olics regained courage. They were hard on the Utraquists wherever they were the stronger: in Kut- tenberg, for instance, hundreds of captured Utra- quists were thrown by the miners into the shafts of disused silver mines. The leaders of the people, meanwhile, built the impregnable stronghold of Tabor, whither the country people betook themselves with all their movable possessions, in order to await in the "community of the brethren" the things that were to come.
Here Utraquism entered upon a new development. The priests of Austi, starting from the principle that the Bible contained the whole teaching of Christ,
abolished every traditional rite and liturgy. There
were to be no more churches, altars, vestments, sacred
vessels, chants, or ceremonies. The Lord's Prayer
was the only liturgical prayer; the communion table
was a common table with common bread and common
appointments; the celebrant wore his everj'day
clothes and was untonsured. Children were baptized
with the first water at hand and without any further
ceremony; they received Communion in both kinds
immediately after Baptism. Extreme unction and
auricular confession were abolished; mortal sins were
to be confessed in public. Purgatory and the worship
of saints were suppressed, likewise all feasts and fasts.
Such a creed accounts for the fury of destruction
which possessed the Hussites. Ziska spent his time
in drilling his peasants and artisans into an army
capable to withstand the dreaded knights in armour
of the king's army. Clever tactics, apt choice of the
battlefield, confidence in their chief and in their cause,
made up for their defective armament: straightened
scythes, flails, forks, and iron-shod cudgels were their
weapons. Their religious fanaticism was heightened
by a young Moravian priest, Martin Hauska, sur-
named Loquis, who taught them to read in the Bible
that the last days had come, that salvation was only
to be found in the mountains — their Tabors — that
after the great battle the millennium would reign on
earth.
Sigismund's army had been strengthened by con- tingents from Hungary and other adjoining lands; all was ready for the fray. On 1 March, 1420, Pope Martin V issued a Bull inviting all Christians to unite in a crusade for the extermination of Wycliffites, Hussites, and other heretics: this Bull was read to the imperial diet assembled at Breslau on 17 March. Its effect was terror on the Catholic side, holy enthusiasm and closest union for deadly warfare on the side of the Taborites. Many Catholics took to flight; the Utra- quist nobles renounced their allegiance and declared war on Sigismund "who had brought the slander of heresy on the land"; a secret embassy offered the Bohemian crown to King Wladislaw II of Poland. The energetic Ziska at once began operations in southern Bohemia: royal towns, fortresses, and monasteries fell into his hands: these latter were plundered and destroyed. Koniggriltz submitted, as did also some nobles disgusted with the excesses of the Taborites. Whilst the king was waiting for the "crusaders" from Germany, he had seventeen Utra- quists drowned in the Ell)e at Leitmeritz, and two burnt at Echlau. The rebels retaliated by setting fire to several monasteries near Prague and by burn- ing the monks. The "crusading" army arrived in July; with the king's troops they were 100,000 strong. Before engaging in battle, the papal legate, Ferdinand of Lucca, examined the " Four Prague Articles", i. e. four points on the granting of which the rebels would submit.
These articles emanated from the university. In substance they are: "(1) The Word of God is to be freely examined by Christian priests throughout the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Margravate of Moravia. (2) 'The venerable Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is to be given in two kinds to adults as well as to children, as Jesus Christ has instituted. (3) The priests and monks, of whom many meddle with the affairs of the State, are to be deprived of the worldly goods which they possess in great quantities, and which make them neglect their sacred office; and their goods shall be restored to us, in order that, in accordance with the doctrine of the Gospel, and the practice of the Apostles, the clergy shall be subject to us, and, living in poverty, serve as a pattern of humility to others. (4) .-Ml the pulilic sins which are called mortal, and all other trespasses contrary to the law of God, are to be punished according to the laws of the country, by those in charge of them, in order to
